"Siren Song" by Margaret Atwood (1976)
Poem, Annotation, and Interpretation of the Poem
"'Siren Song' - the Sirens had the top halves of women and the bottom halves of birds and they were said to sit on their island and sing so beautifully that anybody who heard them would jump overboard and then they would eat these men - they were always men who did this. Ulysses was said to have been the only person who ever actually heard the siren song because he made his sailors stuff their ears with wax and he had them tie him to the mast so he wouldn't jump overboard. But he never told what it was they actually sang therefore nobody has ever known. So this is what they did really sing. " - Margaret Atwood
This is the one song everyone
would like to learn" the song
that is irresistible:
the song that forces men
to leap overboard in squadrons
even though they see the beached skulls
the song nobody knows
because anyone who has heard it
is dead, and the others can't remember.
Shall I tell you the secret
and if I do, will you get me
out of this bird suit?
I don't enjoy it here
squatting on this island
looking picturesque and mythical
with these two feathery maniacs,
I don't enjoy singing
this trio, fatal and valuable.
I will tell the secret to you,
to you, only to you.
Come closer. This song
is a cry for help: Help me!
Only you, only you can,
you are unique
at last. Alas
it is a boring song
but it works every time.
would like to learn" the song
that is irresistible:
the song that forces men
to leap overboard in squadrons
even though they see the beached skulls
the song nobody knows
because anyone who has heard it
is dead, and the others can't remember.
Shall I tell you the secret
and if I do, will you get me
out of this bird suit?
I don't enjoy it here
squatting on this island
looking picturesque and mythical
with these two feathery maniacs,
I don't enjoy singing
this trio, fatal and valuable.
I will tell the secret to you,
to you, only to you.
Come closer. This song
is a cry for help: Help me!
Only you, only you can,
you are unique
at last. Alas
it is a boring song
but it works every time.
In “Siren Song,” Margaret Atwood responds to Homer’s “Odyssey,” a piece of literature that writes condescendingly about women, in a contrasting stance, opposing the inferiority of women that Homer expresses. Using the literary devices of (changing) the speaker and figurative language, Atwood changes the tone and attitude towards women and motivates change concerning gender inequality. Atwood changes the point of view in her adaptation of “Siren Song” in making the Siren the speaker, which is key to interpreting the meaning of the poem. In changing the speaker, the tone is also affected, expressing Atwood’s effervescent attitude towards women and scornful tone towards men in the piece that demonstrates she holds women in higher regard than Homer does. In the fifth stanza, “I don’t enjoy it here squatting on this island looking picturesque and mythical,” demonstrates just this (Atwood). Atwood is comparing women to a “picturesque and mythical” trophy, which illustrates that women are inferior to men, a mere object, “squatting” below them (Atwood). The speaker of the poem clearly expresses “[she] doesn’t enjoy…” her role of the Siren, indicating that women recognize the negative and inferior ideas of men concerning their roles and importance, opposing Homer’s ideas and reflecting on the feeling of women concerning their gender inequality. By delving into the mind of the Siren, Atwood explores the feelings of the woman, and in the greater sense, women, causing the reader to feel pathos for women and the way they are pigeonholed by men. By changing the speaker of the poem from Homer’s masculine-focused to the feminine, the tone towards gender roles changes and the reader gains a new perspective, with Atwood successfully breaking down socially constructed gender roles and exploring the feelings of women concerning this. Atwood’s piece is rich with figurative language, which brings about a deeper understanding of the feeling of the Siren in the piece, and the categorization of women that men place upon them. The Siren talks directly to the reader asking if “[she] should tell [the reader] the secret [of the Siren Song] and if [she] does, will [the reader] get [her] out of this bird suit?” (Atwood). In this sense, the figurative language of “bird suit” not only discusses the idea that Sirens were half-bird and half-women, but the more important concept that this gender-specific “suit,” or (socially) constructed idea of women, dresses her. But this suit is a piece of clothing and can be taken off with effort. The Siren is saying that the “bird suit” that dresses her is the demeaning and inferior view of women that characterizes her according to men, and this belief can be taken away (undressed), with the help of another. Atwood is saying that we cannot hope to undress women of these negative views alone, and that in order to do so, the support and effort of others and many is needed. This figurative language ultimately can be seen as motivating change and action within ourselves, to combat the typical Homer view of women.